Another sample...

[Srehman]

So, I finally worked up the nerve to expose my writing to the world...

 

Written with a Pilot 78G, medium nib (Western Fine) with Private Reserve Black.

 

"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Frost, one of my favorite poems.

[alvarez57]

THAT is a very nice and legible physician's handwriting. Congrats!

[KateGladstone]

You write more legibly than about 50% of physicians. I'd like to make some suggestions for yet greater legibility (without loss of speed), but I don't know if you'd welcome such comments ... so I'll restrict myself to only one, below (if you don't want any suggestion for improvement, just skip the rest of this message).

 

I strongly recommend crossing the "t" when you write it (lift the pen, and cross, before beginning the next letter), even if you contemplate no other changes to your writing style. (Note that, 9 times out of 10, the crossbar will easily and legibly join into the letter following "t").

 

Crossing the "t" when you write it — rather than waiting till the end of the word and then doubling back to cross it before going forward again to reach the point where the next word will begin — helps keep "t" legible by ensuring that the crossbar will actually land on the "t" rather than falling by chance upon some other letter.

 

Also, crossing as you go eliminates the need for a detour backwards at the end of each word containing this most common consonant (and second most common letter) in English. The time saved by eliminating this lengthy detour more than outweighs the time used in briefly lifting the pen within words where needed to make the detour possible. You can test this for yourself by trying the two methods of "t"-crossing (at word's end, and cross-as-you-go) on each of the following phrases:

 

touchy thyroidectomies

twenty-two tantalizing, tasty tomatoes

thankfulness towards twelve threatened turkeys

 

Write each phrase (or the whole set of three phrases) first one way, then the other way, once or more than once (changing your method of "t"-bar formation, but making no other changes in your handwriting).

Evaluate the results for legibility (e.g., did the "t"-bars actually land on the "t"s, or not), effortlessness, and speed (or evident potential for speed once the cross-as-you-go method becomes habitual).

Let the rest of us know what you think after such experimenting!

[Srehman]

Thanks for all the comments. Kate: I did take your advice regarding trying out the various methods of "t"-bar crossing. It seems that when I do the cross-as-you-go method, the shape of my "t" seems to change from a looped "t" to a down and then across "t". Otherwise, the "t"-bars do seem to land on target better.

 

It seems that's just my natural impulse, when I think of breaking to cross the "t", I form the "t" differently.

 

(Written with Waterman Hemisphere, F nib; Private Reserve Velvet Black).

Edited February 25, 2007 by Srehman

[KateGladstone]

Regarding looped versus unlooped "t"s — as far as I know, no writing-style (including the cursive you learned in grade school) uses a looped "t." (If you don't believe me, pull out a third-grade cursive textbook, and check for yourself.) The "t"s do tend to loop, though, when cross-bars wait till the end of the word: a danger for legibility, because an uncrossed looped cursive "t" looks like a looped cursive "l."

 

Please let me know whether you find the cross-as-you-go, unlooped "t" acceptable for your own writing; please also let me know whether you would care to consider other suggestions regarding possible improvements to your script. Knowing what you will or will not accept, as a modification to your handwriting, guides me in considering what other suggestions I might make if you felt open to some scribal experimenting.

[Srehman]

Hmm. Looking back at it, I do agree that the unlooped "t' looks more readable. At high speed I do tend to alternate "t"s; I'll make a conscious effort to cross as I go along from here to see how that translates into real-life legibility and speed.

 

Thank you once again, Kate. I do indeed look forward to hearing more from you. I'm certainly always open to self-improvement!

[KateGladstone]

All right, then ... since you welcomed (welcame?) my remarks on "t," let's go on from there:

 

The same which applies to "t" (about lifting to cross the letter when you write it, instead of waiting to the end of the word and doubling back) can advantageously apply to "x" (which doesn't appear in your sample, but which I mention for completeness' sake) — instead of waiting till the end of the word to cross the "x" in such words as "xylophone, xenophobia, excitation," etc., write the "x" and lift to cross it when you write it — then you'll probably need to lift again, of course, to begin the next letter, but the whole word should still take less time than if you postponed the cross-bar.

 

After this, if you feel really brave, see how far you can apply the same principle to the dots of "i" and "j." Many people find that they can easily apply it to "j" — as you practice such words as "jellybean" and "jaundice" and "jurisdiction," write the "j," lift to dot, then lift after the dot to move towards-and-into the next letter — and about as easily to "i": as with cross-bars, this lifting for dots tends to improve the legibility of the writing (because crucial portions of the letter end up actually *on* the letter instead of some distance away).

 

Of course, some people find that, when it comes to "i"-dots, they will not want to lift-and-immediately-dot quite as frequently as all that: particularly when only one other letter comes between the "i-dot" and an eventual pen-lift (in such words as "in, if, it, is," for example) or if they find it easier/smoother to dot "i" at the end of the syllable which contains it — e.g., in writing such a word as "minimum" you may find "min.im.um" or "min.i.mum" rather easier than an immediately-"i"-dotted "mi.ni.mum": the dots in these examples represent possible places to lift and dot the "i." Only you can decide for yourself whether "mi.ni.mum" or "min.i.mum" or "min.im.um" or something else works best in your own scribal practice — whichever means you choose for dotting "i" before you reach the end of the word and have to "double back" over the whole word to finish any "i"s, most people do find some advantage from making sure that (generally) "i"s get finished sometime before the end of the word.

 

Let me know which (if any) of the above possibilities work for you — because the direction you find most practical to take with any given suggestion will help me decide which bits of advice to give you (or not to give you) as my next suggestion.

 

By the way — for more detailed and in-depth handwriting-help than the comparatively sketchy "freebies" I offer hereabouts, go to the "Marketplace" area and search "KateGladstone" which will bring you to messages that link to myfor-pay lessons on eBay and elsewhere. One of my eBay auctions closes in 1 day 6 hours from now — clicking the links I gave in my "Marketplace" messages will take you to the place where my eBay auctions appear whenever they run.